﻿Never one to shirk his spiritual obligations, the Anglo-Saxon Monk takes a look at canon law... and offers a few tips on how to avoid being excommunicated!﻿

Ever so humble... many rules of canon law stipulate the correct behaviour for monks. The Eadui Psalter, British Library, Arundel 155 (Canterbury, Christ Church, between 1012 and 1023), fol. 133r. PUBLIC DOMAIN: This image is identified by the British Library as free of known copyright restrictions. Click on image to go to source.

Agood monk, blessed readers, should know his canon law.

Canon law? This is the law of the Church as opposed to civil law (specifically, the law of the king in my eleventh-century world). Canons, or rules, have been laid down for centuries by ecclesiastical councils, the first of which was the Council of Nicaea in 325, and since then numerous collections of canon laws have been compiled. Well, makes a change from stamp collecting.

Today I'm going to relate a few highlights from the personal canon law collection of Wulfstan, archbishop of York between 1002 and 1016. The manuscripts which preserve this collection actually have annotations and additions written in Wulfstan's own handwriting. Well I never! Since as an archbishop he would have had numerous aides, including a magister scriptorii (master of the scriptorium) and a few lowly scribes thrown in for good measure, his personal attention to this collection shows it was something close to his heart. But, then,Wulfstan was fond of a good law, even being directly involved with the writing of civil laws for kings ﻿Æ﻿thelred (of un-readiness fame) and Cnut. He was nothing if not authoritative.

Now, beloved, I'm not simply writing all this for my own amusement, but rather because your interests are always at the centre of my world, plain as it is, and therefore I thought you would all benefit from knowing about one or two things that none of us should be getting up to according to Wulfstan's canon laws. Of course, it should come as no surprise that some of these canons are of the you shall not do kind. Well, that is what ecclesiasts are there for, to keep you on the straight and narrow. But there are some you shall do canons, too, as you will see, though it has to be admitted that these mostly amount to a bit of positive spin.

Regardless, I beseech you all, my blessed readers, to pay attention as I itemise five of my favourite rules, for your very soul may be at stake:

Textus Roffensis (Rochester, c. 1122-3), folio 119r: Copy of the foundation document of Rochester Cathedral, dated to 604, though actually a fraudulent document! Image by permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral.

The digitised facsimile of Textus Roffensis, the manuscript that Dr Monk has been researching for Rochester Cathedral and which will be the star attraction in its 'Hidden Treasures, Fresh Expressions'exhibition (opening January 2016), has been moved to a new site with improved technology. You can access it, blessed readers, by clicking on the image above. Below are two images capturing the zoom-in feature. So enjoy turning the pages of one of the most important manuscripts in England!

Dr Monk is delivering a talk in York on Saturday (20th June, 2015) about the work being done to promote Textus Roffensis to a wider audience. Though it is arguably as important historically as Magna Carta and Domesday Book, it has barely broken through into the public consciousness. Dr Monk asks why that may be and what is being done to remedy this. He will report back to the Anglo-Saxon Monk in due course. May the Lord bless him.

The digital technology enables users to zoom in close to details, such as this small pointed finger, on folio 173r, marking out the name Gundulfus (Gundulf, the bishop of Rochester, who built the castle at Rochester). Image by permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral.

Here, on folio 119v, you can see the boundary clause for the land granted to Rochester Priory by King Æthelberht of Kent. This charter is written in Latin except for the boundary clause, which is written in Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons. Though this document is fraudulent, we know from the historian Bede that Æthelberht did indeed grant land to Rochester. It is possible that the boundary clause represents the original transaction; and if so it is the oldest record of English street names. As well as Southgate ('suðgeate'), North Lane ('norð lanan'), and Street ('stræte'), you can see Broadgate ('Bradgeat') which has been underlined by a later hand. In the left margin a non-medieval hand has offered a translation of the Old English. Image by permission of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester Cathedral.